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P‐129: Cognitive performance and grey matter structure in elderly with subjective memory impairment
Author(s) -
Jessen Frank,
Scheef Lukas,
Schaper Karsten,
Wagner Michael
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
alzheimer's and dementia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 6.713
H-Index - 118
eISSN - 1552-5279
pISSN - 1552-5260
DOI - 10.1016/j.jalz.2007.04.193
Subject(s) - grey matter , psychology , neuropsychology , verbal fluency test , audiology , cognition , dementia , effects of sleep deprivation on cognitive performance , episodic memory , verbal memory , developmental psychology , psychiatry , magnetic resonance imaging , medicine , disease , white matter , pathology , radiology
Impairment (MCI). Regardless of a conversion to AD, evaluating selective attention is important in differentiating normaland abnormal age-related attentional deficits. While several cognitive tests assess frontal function [Stroop Neuropsychological Inventory Test (Stroop) and Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST)], saccadic eye movements (SEM; series of rapid eye movements in changing the point of fixation) also provide for a means to investigate age-related changes in frontal lobe systems. SEM may be automatic (eye movement made toward a visible stimulus-a prosaccade) or they can be generated voluntarily (eye movement away from a visible stimulus-an antisaccade). Objective: To analyze the relationship between scores of cognitive tests of frontal function and SEM in cognitively normal older adults and in patients with MCI and mild AD. Methods: Thirty-five cognitively normal older adults (mean SD age, 73.74 5.67), eighteen MCI patients (78.11 7.04), and fourteen mild AD patients (75.64 6.02) completed the Stroop and WCST. Participants also performed one block (120 trials) of pro-saccades and two blocks (240 trials) of antisaccades. Spearman correlations were performed to assess the relationship between cognitive test scores and SEM parameters (reaction time and direction errors). Results: In cognitively normal older adults, a higher Stroop score significantly correlated with shorter reaction time (r -.358, p .038) and fewer direction errors (r -.443, p .010). A higher Stroop score significantly correlated with shorter reaction time in patients with MCI (r -.558, p .031) and mild AD (r -.602, p .038). Conclusion: These results show significant correlations between cognitive tests of frontal function and SEM parameters in cognitively normal older adults and in patients with MCI and mild AD. Measures of attention (Stroop and SEM scores) appear to be intact in cognitively normal older adults, yet impaired in patients with MCI and mild AD.